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G'Day from Down Under!
What a great gardening forum this is, and to think that if I hadn’t done a Google search for something the other day I would still be unaware of the forum’s existence. How your fortunes can change!
I have had an interest in gardening ever since I was knee-high to a determinate tomato plant! My mother was the gardener extraordinaire having learnt most of her skills as a child working on the peasant farm in Poland, before being whisked away to Germany for several years of slave labour during the war years.
After arriving in Australia after the war most European migrants turned over any piece of ground that was bigger than a handkerchief and started growing veggies. This always fascinated me as a child that ‘grown ups’ would put so much hard working into growing something to put on our dinner plates. And, of course, nothing beats the flavour of ‘fresh-picked' from the garden.
Whilst always maintaining an interest in flowers, shrubs and trees I quickly acquired the ‘veggie bug’ and have been growing them in my own garden for the last 30 years. I love all veggies and like to grow a fair range for variety and to ensure we have a nice supply of them when each veggie comes into harvest mode. A particular interest has been tomatoes, and in the last 10 years or so open pollinated (OP) and heirloom varieties. I haven’t actually sat down and counted the number of heirloom tomato varieties I have in my collection but I figure it must be close to 350 or so! But, in this time my interest in OP and heirloom varieties has progressed to a hobby and even further now to a passion! LOL Such is the fascination of this wonderfully addictive past-time!
Each season I grow out some old favourites along with 60 to 80 new tomato varieties to assess. I have a number of English varieties in my collection too, including a very rare dwarf variety, Chandler, not available commercially anywhere in the entire universe! It produces round, thick-walled, red fruits of tombola size that have that true tomatoey taste! It is the tastiest early-ripening variety I have grown, and at less than 50 days to maturity (DTM) it gives other varieties with double the DTM a run for their money, flavour-wise! Needless to say, I will be saving a truck-load of seeds this season so I can spread it around to tomatophiles all around the globe so they, too, can enjoy this fantastic tomato variety! Another characteristic of Chandler is that it has very pretty, robust, rugose foliage.
My passion has now progressed to developing new tomato varieties. Last season I attempted my first cross. I emasculated the flower without any problem but, for the life of me, I couldn't get any pollen out of the donor flower, no matter what I tried. Needless to say, the cross failed and the flower fell off. That aside, I intend to try again!
But, a few years ago a member of another forum did a cross between Stupice (an early-ripening, red, potato-leaf variety) and Cherokee Purple, probably the most famous heirloom tomato variety in North America with a fantastic flavour. What he had in mind was to produce a new early-ripening variety with loads more flavour from the Cherokee Purple influence. I was fortunate to received some F1seeds from him to grow out and return the F2 seeds to him in time for him to start them indoors for the next grow-out. He susbequently grew out another few generations but did not get what he was looking for so gave up on this dehybridization project. Not to be deterred, I continued to grow out the seeds I had and I now have some very interesting lines to pursue, both in colour and flavour. It should provide much fun over the next few grow-outs as I segregate for desired characteristics and eventually end up with new OP varieties.
The growing season in my part of Down Under is totally different to anywhere in Europe. Our growing season is characterised by three or four months of extreme heat with maximum temperatures at or around the century mark almost every day! It is a very enervating time for plants and gardeners alike! LOL As a consequence I drink my own purified water by the gallon and at the end of the day when I get in after working out in the heat I like to reach for a nice cold beer! I am a connoisseur of fine wine, good grub, tea, coffee and beer - such are the demands of my ‘educated’ palate. I tell folks that my palate is more educated than I am! LOL I find most Australian beers to be of poor quality as the bulk of them are made on chemicals and are brewed using tap water. On the other hand, the standard of European beer is very high and we get an excellent range here in Oz. There are a few brands of Polish beer here too and I do love them. My favourites are Zywiec (named after a town in southern Poland almost on the border with the Czech Republic), Perla, Okocim and Zlote Lwy. They are a pilsener style, with the Okocim approaching a lager style. I put the quality of Polish beer down to the use of pure, spring water combined with real hops and malt. As well as Polish beer I like many from other places. My favourites are French, German, Belgian and French Canadian. When I visited the UK in 1976 (the drought year) I went into a pub in London and asked for their strongest beer, saying that I had been a bit disappointed with the English beers I had tasted as they did not have a strong enough flavour for my taste. I was handed a Barley Wine. No kidding, my knees were knocking before I got to the bottom of the glass! The next day I had the mother of all headaches! LOL
Back to my vegetable and tomato-growing passion. I love to trade seeds as it engenders friendship. Many of you will know what it’s like to bring joy to another gardener by sending him or her some seeds, especially of varieties not commercially available. I very often make life-long friendships with folks I trade with.
I reckon I must have cat genes as I'm always curious about varieties I don’t know. And the rarer a variety is the more I want to get a hold of it and grow it out! LOL
Whilst there isn’t the proliferation of commercial seed companies in Australia that there are in Europe or North America there, nonetheless, are some pretty good ones and they do carry some varieties that are not offered elsewhere. The companies that I deal with the most are www.edenseeds.com.au and www.selectorganic.com.au (these two have the same ownership); Phoenix Seeds in Snug, Tasmania (sadly no web site, just a hard copy catalogue); Organic Seeds & Plants Greenpatch Organic Seeds and Kings Seeds. So, if you see anything there that you just ‘can’t live without’ drop me a line and I’ll get it for you. That way I can drool over the British catalogues and see what I would love to try.
Forgive me for being so long-winded. I have been a writer in my job for the last 20 years so I can’t help it! LOL
Cheers.
Janek
What a great gardening forum this is, and to think that if I hadn’t done a Google search for something the other day I would still be unaware of the forum’s existence. How your fortunes can change!
I have had an interest in gardening ever since I was knee-high to a determinate tomato plant! My mother was the gardener extraordinaire having learnt most of her skills as a child working on the peasant farm in Poland, before being whisked away to Germany for several years of slave labour during the war years.
After arriving in Australia after the war most European migrants turned over any piece of ground that was bigger than a handkerchief and started growing veggies. This always fascinated me as a child that ‘grown ups’ would put so much hard working into growing something to put on our dinner plates. And, of course, nothing beats the flavour of ‘fresh-picked' from the garden.
Whilst always maintaining an interest in flowers, shrubs and trees I quickly acquired the ‘veggie bug’ and have been growing them in my own garden for the last 30 years. I love all veggies and like to grow a fair range for variety and to ensure we have a nice supply of them when each veggie comes into harvest mode. A particular interest has been tomatoes, and in the last 10 years or so open pollinated (OP) and heirloom varieties. I haven’t actually sat down and counted the number of heirloom tomato varieties I have in my collection but I figure it must be close to 350 or so! But, in this time my interest in OP and heirloom varieties has progressed to a hobby and even further now to a passion! LOL Such is the fascination of this wonderfully addictive past-time!
Each season I grow out some old favourites along with 60 to 80 new tomato varieties to assess. I have a number of English varieties in my collection too, including a very rare dwarf variety, Chandler, not available commercially anywhere in the entire universe! It produces round, thick-walled, red fruits of tombola size that have that true tomatoey taste! It is the tastiest early-ripening variety I have grown, and at less than 50 days to maturity (DTM) it gives other varieties with double the DTM a run for their money, flavour-wise! Needless to say, I will be saving a truck-load of seeds this season so I can spread it around to tomatophiles all around the globe so they, too, can enjoy this fantastic tomato variety! Another characteristic of Chandler is that it has very pretty, robust, rugose foliage.
My passion has now progressed to developing new tomato varieties. Last season I attempted my first cross. I emasculated the flower without any problem but, for the life of me, I couldn't get any pollen out of the donor flower, no matter what I tried. Needless to say, the cross failed and the flower fell off. That aside, I intend to try again!
But, a few years ago a member of another forum did a cross between Stupice (an early-ripening, red, potato-leaf variety) and Cherokee Purple, probably the most famous heirloom tomato variety in North America with a fantastic flavour. What he had in mind was to produce a new early-ripening variety with loads more flavour from the Cherokee Purple influence. I was fortunate to received some F1seeds from him to grow out and return the F2 seeds to him in time for him to start them indoors for the next grow-out. He susbequently grew out another few generations but did not get what he was looking for so gave up on this dehybridization project. Not to be deterred, I continued to grow out the seeds I had and I now have some very interesting lines to pursue, both in colour and flavour. It should provide much fun over the next few grow-outs as I segregate for desired characteristics and eventually end up with new OP varieties.
The growing season in my part of Down Under is totally different to anywhere in Europe. Our growing season is characterised by three or four months of extreme heat with maximum temperatures at or around the century mark almost every day! It is a very enervating time for plants and gardeners alike! LOL As a consequence I drink my own purified water by the gallon and at the end of the day when I get in after working out in the heat I like to reach for a nice cold beer! I am a connoisseur of fine wine, good grub, tea, coffee and beer - such are the demands of my ‘educated’ palate. I tell folks that my palate is more educated than I am! LOL I find most Australian beers to be of poor quality as the bulk of them are made on chemicals and are brewed using tap water. On the other hand, the standard of European beer is very high and we get an excellent range here in Oz. There are a few brands of Polish beer here too and I do love them. My favourites are Zywiec (named after a town in southern Poland almost on the border with the Czech Republic), Perla, Okocim and Zlote Lwy. They are a pilsener style, with the Okocim approaching a lager style. I put the quality of Polish beer down to the use of pure, spring water combined with real hops and malt. As well as Polish beer I like many from other places. My favourites are French, German, Belgian and French Canadian. When I visited the UK in 1976 (the drought year) I went into a pub in London and asked for their strongest beer, saying that I had been a bit disappointed with the English beers I had tasted as they did not have a strong enough flavour for my taste. I was handed a Barley Wine. No kidding, my knees were knocking before I got to the bottom of the glass! The next day I had the mother of all headaches! LOL
Back to my vegetable and tomato-growing passion. I love to trade seeds as it engenders friendship. Many of you will know what it’s like to bring joy to another gardener by sending him or her some seeds, especially of varieties not commercially available. I very often make life-long friendships with folks I trade with.
I reckon I must have cat genes as I'm always curious about varieties I don’t know. And the rarer a variety is the more I want to get a hold of it and grow it out! LOL
Whilst there isn’t the proliferation of commercial seed companies in Australia that there are in Europe or North America there, nonetheless, are some pretty good ones and they do carry some varieties that are not offered elsewhere. The companies that I deal with the most are www.edenseeds.com.au and www.selectorganic.com.au (these two have the same ownership); Phoenix Seeds in Snug, Tasmania (sadly no web site, just a hard copy catalogue); Organic Seeds & Plants Greenpatch Organic Seeds and Kings Seeds. So, if you see anything there that you just ‘can’t live without’ drop me a line and I’ll get it for you. That way I can drool over the British catalogues and see what I would love to try.
Forgive me for being so long-winded. I have been a writer in my job for the last 20 years so I can’t help it! LOL
Cheers.
Janek
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